Stokes in USA Today: Allow Children to Be Children

Visiting Assistant Professor of English Elisabeth Stokes wrote an opinion piece on free-range parenting, a parenting style based on the belief that allowing children more independence will teach them self-sufficiency. “Childhood … is a time for being a child,” Stokes countered, stating that the responsibilities of adulthood should not be prematurely imposed on children. She said that free-range parents who allow their children to roam streets without supervision might be placing their parenting style before the well-being of the child. “In reality there are as many effective ways to parent as there are children to raise,” she said.

Stokes recognizes that being involved in the parenting-style debate is a luxury, noting that terms like “free-range” or “helicopter” parent only become relevant if all basic family needs are met.